Just Remember
by PinkBlackOrange
Summary: Sakura is dead, one year later team 7 is assign to protect a girl with pink hair and green eyes. who is she? everybody has doubts but a raven haired boy's heart says otherwise. sasusaku
1. Chapter 1

**Just Remember  **By Sakura4life

**1. A shadow in the forest.**

They were in the forest just near the village

"Naruto…Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cried out, but the two boys were just too busy in quarreling that they can't hear her shouting at them.

'_I can't believe these two are fighting on why they both woke up late.'_ She said inwardly as she was looking at the two ninjas. Yesterday they wanted to wake up early today cause they wanted to master the new Genjutsu Kakashi-sensei had thought them._ 'I wish they would stop, this is silly.' _She sweat drop at sight of Naruto and Sasuke fighting. Sasuke was pulling Naruto's mouth in a sideward position. "These two are hopeless." She said to herself recalling what happened yesterday.

_Flashback:_

_Kakash-sensei was telling them to practice a new Genjutsu. The two boys, though good, haven't quite mastered the technique. On her part with just a half a day she was able to properly use it. With that Kakashi made a point that Sakura was going to be stronger and better than the two hotheaded ninjas. _

"_As usual I see that Sakura has used the technique well… unlike some other people out there." Kakashi said with a stare at the two tired up ninjas on the ground. Obviously all of there energy and Chackra was used up. Same with Sakura (she's on the ground as well but she already knows how to use the technique) _

_This got the two annoyed… Kakashi always made a point that Sakura was now a fast learner in genjutsu and ninjutsu. And that one day she's going to become the next Hokage and etc. "If the two of you want to be a strong and good ninja try to be like Sakura." A glitter in his eyes showed that he was smiling under his mask. _

_End of Flashback: _

Sakura knew that Kakashi-sensei told that to the two to intimated them to strive harder.

Inner Sakura: "_What the hell are you talking about he said that because he knows that you're a great ninja!"_

For the past year she had been a fast learner just like Kakashi said. At first it had been her Genjutsu that had enhanced. Then every time that Kakashi would teach new Ninjutsu she would be the first to master it, well some of the times. Though she still isn't as skilled as Sasuke and Naruto but she's starting to catch up with them. It might take her two or so more years to be able to reach what her other teammates have reach now. But it doesn't matter she's doing her best and her best is enough for her.

Kakashi told them to practice while he has to attend a meeting for all the Jounins. Sakura has been trying to stop these two from fighting but nothing worked so far. "I give up!... Naruto, Sasuke-kun." She was a few feet away from them. "The two of you… I need to go to the east part of the forest to get some herbs. Would you mind telling that to Kakashi-sensei incase he comes looking for me when he's back."

"All by yourself? Sakura-chan don't you think that's dangerous?" Cried Naruto, who finally stop screaming and kicking Sasuke.

"It's just near by and don't worry the forest is in the boundary of the village, so I don't think that anybody would attack me. They don't have a reason for doing that anyway." Her answer was sure. She was hoping that Sasuke would try to stop her because he would be worried. But all he said was: "Do what ever you want to do." And that was it.

"Ah… ok. I'll be back soon." Looking at Sasuke with a disappointed look; which he didn't saw because he turned around to practice.

Inner Sakura: _"Damn it, don't you want to say anything else to me, I was hoping that you would care." And threw a fist in the air._

"Well, be careful then. Good luck on herb hunting." Naruto with a big smile on his face, waving his hands to Sakura who was now leaving to the east part of the forest with a basket.

She was getting nearer to her destination. She was training to be a medical nin. After asking Tsunade-sama for her training she was doing her best not to disappoint her.

"Finally I'm here." It was in the east part of the forest, her favorite part, a field of herbal flowers scattered allover the field. A few steps into the field and she found what she was looking for. A small weed or so as it looked. "This would be useful." Holding the small plant in her hand while kneeling on the ground. "I can grind this and apply it on a wound." She smiled. She had to thank Shizune for this. She thought her a lot on herbal medicine of course she also had some help from Tsunade as well, but when it comes to herbs most of it came from Shizune.

She remembered something and smiled…

Sakura's mind went down memory lane…

She remembered the time when Naruto got wounded on his cheek by a kunai during training. She applied the herbal stuff on his wounded cheek and Sakura could have sworn that the whole Village shook from his scream or more like screech. She would have kicked Naruto for the loud noise if he wasn't scrambling on the ground mumbling about '_I'm going to heaven… oh the pain… the pain… NO! There isn't any ramen in haven… I don't wanna die… my poor Ramen! What would they do without me?' _

Instead Sakura laughed, who wouldn't? To her Naruto was a stupid overly Ramen loving idiot but at the same time one of the few people now a days that could make her laugh. Ever since-

Another memory…

Their house got caught by fire, her parents were trapped inside. Sakura wasn't around; she was on a mission with Naruto and Kakashi minus Sasuke. (Sasuke wasn't retrieved by then.) When she found out what happened she had a break down. She didn't eat for days; she had greatly blamed herself for what happened. It took her three weeks to accept what had happened. To her it was as worst as the day Sasuke left the village or even more. It would be hard to make the 15-year old konoichi laugh since that incident.

Another memory…

_Sasuke_

Now that ringed a bell.

Uchiha Sasuke, a boy from the Uchiha clan, the clan which was brutally massacred by Uchiha Itachi his own Brother. The boy was retrieve a year after he left. That was two months after her parents died.

That bastard Orochimaro was finally killed during the retrieval mission, but it wasn't just a retrieval mission but a mission to destroy the village of Sound. It took half the ninjas of the village including Jiraiya and Tsunade. After finding out that the village was planning another attack on Konoha they went ahead of them on attack. But it wasn't an easy task; though the mission was successful half of the battalion was killed.

Form what Sakura had heard the sight of the battle field afterwards was something that would make Naruto not eat Ramen for a WHOLE WEEK.

It must have been really horrible to actually make Naruto not eat ramen for A WHOLE WEEK.

Considering that the blonde boy really loves ramen. She couldn't imagine being there. She had thanked Kami for not letting her and Naruto go to that war. Even thought Naruto probably screamed his lungs out to Tsunade just to allow him.

But that's not was important what was important is that Sasuke was retrieve.

Right?

Wrong!

Sasuke was still the same stoic, emotionless boy she knew before. Things were back like before, it's like nothing had happened.

Tsunade just gave Sasuke a 4-month suspension from ninja work for suddenly leaving Konoha without permission. And that was it, things were back to normal.

Sakura sighed.

So many things had happened in just one year. From the death of her parents to the destruction of the Sound to the retrieval of Sasuke. Yet things just came out like nothing had happened. But she guessed that it was better this way. Though the memory of her parents still hurts like hell but she was able to cope up with things.

But what about Sasuke? Should she finally give up on him? Should she accept the fact that the Uchiha boy will never reward her love for him?

She thought of it for a while.

A small smile could be seen on her lips. She inhaled deeply and stood up from her position.

No! She wasn't gonna give up either to life it itself or to her beloved Sasuke-kun!

"I won't give up." She said to no one particular. "Do you hear me Sasuke-kun! I won't give up!"

Inner Sakura_: "Hell yeah! That's the spirit girl show those people what you're made of!"_

She smiled at what her innerself had said, that's right she won't give up.

Sakura was about to leave until…

She stop, there was something wrong. She looked around her to see if any body was there, she sensed that something moved somewhere in the trees. She took out a kunai and was in defense mode. She turned around to a sound behind her, still holding the basket in her left hand.

"Whose there? Come out of there and show yourself!" Telling this to whoever the intruder was. At the back of the bushes something moved.

Her heart was beating fast

Sweat was falling from the side of her face.

Then suddenly it came!

Sakura let her kunai down and sweat dropped.

"A rabbit……." Silly her, why would she be nervous? This forest is part of the village why would anyone attack her? It's not like an enemy ninja could pass through the boundary that easily.

So she left feeling relieved and turned around back to her were her team was. But something at the back made noise again._ "Must be that stupid rabbit again." _Her thought were for sure. She gave another look at the rabbit and turned around.

But to her glory as she was turning her head around a ninja with a kunai in his hands was going right at her.

Her eyes wide, blank, shock….

Her body stiff, she can't move…

Everything went black…

A/N: Elow people this is Sakura4life speaking! I'm new here and this is my first fic… I'm kinda shy (Blushes) but I have an innerself like Sakura does. And she comes out from time to time. Just to give you a warning my innerself IS VERY DANGEROUS! She knows a lot of bad bad very bad words. But no worries! (Smiles sweetly) She only comes out when people saw bad things about me… which means be careful on what you say about me - OR ELSE!

P.S. I know that the story is bad but no worries it will get better in future chapters! I think... (Smiles wickedly)

So bye bye ….

Review Review Review Review Pleeeeeeeeezzzzz!


	2. A Spy on the Loose

Elow again, good to see that your still reading my fic. To all those that reviewed THAAAAAAAANKKKK YOUUUUUUUUUUUU! You don't know how much it means to me.

P.S. in my A/N in da last Chap it was suppose to be SAY not SAW! Me don't know wat happened Oo, must b out of my mind again 

weeeeeelllll here's chapter two hope you like it!

Declaimer: OMG! OMG! I own Naruto! I own Naruto! SNAP (Wakes up in bed) Damn, why dose it have to be on the best part! Sigh Oo

**Chapter 2: A spy on the loose**

Kakashi was heading back to his team. He's thoughts were on their meeting today.

His mind went to flashback mode.

_Flashback:_

"_In the past few days I'm sure that you've notice that there's a different presence in village." Tsunade said while looking very seriously at all of the Jounins._

"_Yes we've notice, and If I'm not mistaken his been around for 4 days already." Kakashi said with no signs of emotion._

"_All I can say is that he's good in hiding his Chackra and he's speed is yet to be measured, until now we haven't been able to catch a glimpse of him." Gai with a serious face making a point to the others._

"_Yes I know. I already had some ANBU to check the situation out. And lately there hasn't been any news about it." Looking at the others, Tsunade gave bits of information. _

"_We don't know what his intentions are yet but there is one thing that I want to say to all of you... Keep your eyes open. We have to take precautions." With that the meeting was closed._

_End of flashback:_

"Looks like the situation is serious this time." Kakashi said after recalling. There had been other spies in the village before, which was easily solved. This time they even had a meeting about it with all the Jounins.

Yesterday while in training with his team, he noticed that there was somebody in the trees nearby. But it was very faint and when he looked-there wasn't a single sign of its presence. He paid no heed to it thinking he might have been just paranoid-until now.

When he reached the training area where his team was, he noticed that Sakura wasn't around.

"Naruto, where's Sakura?" Kakashi asked the blonde ninja while he was walking near him.

"Ah! Kakashi-sensei! You're here already…. Ah? Sakura-chan? She went to the east part of the forest to get some herbs!" Naruto knew that Sakura was fond of herbs.

"The east part of the forest? How long has she been gone?" Kakashi was asking Sasuke knowing the fact that Naruto didn't really know how to count time when in training. (A/N: No offence! , )

"She's been gone for 2 hours already." Sasuke said as he was ending his training. Truth was he just remembered it when Kakashi was talking about it. He was too busy with his training to think about that fact.

"Well then we better go and get her." Kakashi was already heading to the east part of the forest turning his back at the two.

Naruto and Sasuke were looking at there sensei with a wondering face.

"Ah… Kakashi-sensei, why?" Naruto preferred to WHY Kakashi wants to go get Sakura. This wasn't the first time that she went to that part of the forest, though it was the first time she'd been there by herself, she would always go there with Shizune. And when she would be there, they would just wait for her to return while they were in training. This was normal to them.

Kakashi was turning his head to them. "What do you mean by WHY? Sakura knows how to use the technique better than the two of you, so you'll be needing her help."

That earned him 50-degree glares from the two shinobies.

But the truth be told, he was worried about her. The foreign presence might consider her a snag in his way. That maybe… just maybe Sakura had gotten in the way of his path and decided to-No!

He pushed that thought aside. There wouldn't be a valid reason for so to happen. And continue to walk in the east part of the forest with his team.

"_I can't believe this" _Sasuke thought. _"Why can't they just shut up already?" _

Naruto and Kakashi were talking or more like quarrelling over the topic about Kakashi was always giving Sakura a special treatment. That he seems to be showing a means of '_affection_' towards her.

Of course Kakashi denied.

It really annoyed Sasuke. Naruto's voice made his ears hurt, he was irritated. He was walking a few feet farther than the two at his back. _"Kakashi in love with Sakura? Ha! yeah right! Like he has a chance on her. I'm the one that she likes, and only me."_

he was shock.

What on earth made him say something like that? He was now thinking of the pink haired kunoichi. And his thoughts were about how hard she has been trying to get him to notice her more.

And how she still treated him the same way as before even at the fact that he had chosen power over his friends.

"_She's annoying. I wish she would just go away." _ But that thought somewhat scared him, the thought of Sakura not being around made him feel… alone?

_That feeling again… _

"_Stop it" _He told himself harshly, he was already entering the field. _"She's annoying; she always stands in my way… and …and…" _

_I love you with all my heart!_

Sasuke stopped

He gulped.

There's that voice again. The same voice that hunted him during the year he was in the sound.

_I love you with all my heart!_

It wouldn't go away. It would hunt him to his sleep. It would hunt him while he was training.

It would hunt him…

It was to stay inside of his mind.

Playing over and over again until it would drive him crazy.

When he was finally back in Konoha he would TRY to act as if nothing is wrong. He would NOT let anybody especially Sakura know that _something_ was affecting him greatly. And that _something_ would be-

A familiar scent was in the air.

His head was looking at the ground at the time.

He slowly lifted his head up-

His eyes were wide; his mouth was lightly parted; he was shortening in his breath.

"Hey Sasuke-teme, what's wrong?" The clueless Naruto asked. "You looked like you'd seen a…" Naruto stopped his sentence when he saw the sight in front of him.

"What is it?" Kakashi ask, his hands were in his pockets. But then his only showing eye widens revealing his shock state.

At the field that was supposed to lush with beauty was-

Covered with crimson red blood…

The center of the field-

A dead body with pink hair….

Wounds allover….

A big slash wound covered deeply in blood….

"Sa…Sa…Sa…ku…kura….?" Was all that Naruto could say.

A/N: Elow! So What do you guys think? Is it good? I know that its Short but hey I updated didn't I? eheheeheheh

I'm sorry if I didn't reach your expectations. I'll try better next time.

P.S. DO NOT FLAME WITH USELESS, UNREASONABLE FLAMES! THOSE THINGS ARE PURE BLLSHT! UNDERSTAND! IF NOT PREPARE TO MEET YOUR MAKER!

Mwuaaahahahaha!

Umm... Sowei… My innerself just got in before I did.

Well plezzzzzz REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!

It would make me very happy and keep my innerself away! She's starting to take over me as you can see! 


	3. Cold and Empty

**Sakura4life**: I can believe so many people reviewed my fic. And I thought that it wasn't good enough. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH!

--Oh yeah to **Only Secret** thank you for giving me the notice about my grammar didn't saw that before.

**Inner Sakura4life**: Ghaaaaaa! I'm really really really angry at that bastard!

**Sakura4life**: Huh? Who?

**Inner Sakura4life**: You know who I'm talking about! Our Bastard of a Principal is a real ASSHLE!

**Sakura4life**: You mean-

**Inner Sakura4life**: Yeah that one! Can you believe it? Our school exam IS ON A **SATURDAY**? What the hell is wrong with him? We are students who need a break! God, like we only got a two day weekend rest and his sacrificing our weekend? For what reason?

**Sakura4life**: I'm sure that he has valid reasons-

**Inner Sakura4life**: Yeah, of course he does! Is so that he can torture us more! Is not like he doesn't torture enough by letting us his FACE 5 times a day! I'm getting sick of his no good for nothing face, it makes me wanna puke!

**Sakura4life**: (Sigh) No comment… (But inwardly agrees)

Anyway here's chapter three.

Declaimer: I wish I did but I don't! (Slumps in a corner) Ohhhhh weeeeelll!

**Chapter 3: Cold and Empty**

"_I'll just be there for a while, I'll be back soon." Her words came out like cold wind in the air. He tried to reach her but he couldn't move his feet._

"_No don't leave! Sakura!" Screaming his lungs out to the girl who was now turning her back to leave. He was stuck there, just to see fade. "Please, don't go!" But he was too late. And before his eyes she disappeared…. And again it was there……_

_The dead body…_

_The wounds…_

_The blood…_

_The—_

"No!" Sasuke pounced up in his bed. He was sweating allover. Panting heavily.

"That dream again." He wiped the sweat a off his forehead, he glance at the clock at his bed stand.

He stood out of his bed, took a bath and ate his breakfast. It was 7 am; he had to go for training again this morning.

"Every night…that dream….argh! I wish it would stop." he muttered in front if his breakfast as if it was the cause of all his problems.

A year has already past since that horrifying incident. And since then his dreams were coming none stop in his head. Almost every single night.

-

-

-

-

"As usual, your late again Kakashi-sensei." Naruto, looking at his sensei VERY HARD.

"None of you should be shock by that anymore." Kakashi was on a branch of a tree in their usual meeting spot.

Their sensei came down, went nearer to them and said. "By the way training is canceled today."

"What's the reason?" Sasuke's expressionless face asked his sensei.

"What? You don't know what day is today? Oh… I can't believe you two." He all melodramatically and that he led out a bouquet of flowers.

Seeing the beautiful flowers Naruto had an Idea pop up in his head. "Aha! Today is your date day, Right?" Naruto's grin was wide up to his ear. He wondered who the _un_lucky girl was and his teacher finally getting laid. _'About time' _he though

"No, Naruto. I'm not going out on a date. What made you think of that?" And Kakashi went by Naruto's side. The blonde boy just had curios look on his face.

"None of you really remember what day it is today? You know the falling_ cherry blossoms? Spring? March 28?_" Kakashi with a doubtful gaze. Seriously! His giving off too obvious clues.

"Why can't you just tell so we can get this over with?" Sasuke was getting annoyed he hates mind games. As if dream this last night wasn't enough to ruin his day, he has to put up with these two idiots.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. The two of you don't deserve to be _her_ friend." With that he started to walk to the memorial of the village. He stopped before he said-

"Don't you remember, today is Sakura's birthday."

The atmosphere suddenly became quiet; there was tension in the air. A small breeze swiftly pass through them and gently caress their faces. The petals of the cherry blossoms gently float in the breeze. Nobody spoke for a whole 30 seconds.

"That's right… now I remember." Naruto said in a sad tone. How could he forget? He was sure that he put a reminder in his calendar about it; come to think of it he hasn't exactly seen his calendar in a while now; come to think of it _again_ did he ever had a calendar? But surely the sight of the falling cherry blossoms would have given him a clue. He was such a moron how could he forget? During their academy days he was the very fist person to great her a 'Happy Birthday Sakura-chan!' some friend he is.

"Lets go, Ino is already there." Ino was now there new teammate. Since that day that Sakura was "gone" she was chosen to replace her. Naruto snapped out of his thoughts. He will not be a bad friend; he had greatly blamed himself for Sakura's death. He wasn't able to save her, not able to protect her like how he promise he would. Now the very least he could do is say 'happy birthday' on the carved stone at the memorial. It's the only way he could show that she is still an important person in his life. Even though it hurts to see her name carved on that stone, he would go and visit her there because she will always and forever will be his one and only Sakura-chan.

Naruto inhaled deeply. The memories hurt like it always hurt.

Naruto and Kakashi started to leave for their destination, when a voice interrupted-

"I won't go."

The voice was calm yet serious.

"But Sasuke, why? What is it this time?" Kakashi's eyes narrowed at the boy with raven-black hair. The said boy got his hands in his pockets, still looking impassive.

"Hey! Uchiha Sasuke-bastard what the heck is your problem? You already didn't go to her burial now you're not gonna go to her birthday!" Naruto was in a furious rampage. He looked liked he was about to bite somebody.

"Why would I go and say 'happy birthday' to somebody who's already dead?" There was a hint of mockery in Sasuke's voice that made Naruto even angrier.

"You… you …you have no respect for her! If you only knew how much Sakura-chan liked you…. Arghh! She'll never forgive for this Uchiha Sasuke!" Trying to stop himself from the temptation of beating up the boy in front of him, Naruto just gave Sasuke a 'you'll be sorry cause I'm gonna kick your ass' look. How dare he mock his dear Sakura-chan like that.

But Sasuke didn't show any signs that he was affected by Naruto's words. "Shut up dobe! Why would I care what she thinks, she's dead isn't she?" He smirk then turned away, his back facing them. "I'll be heading home now. I've wasted my time already. Were not gonna train anyway." And starting to walk towards the direction of his home, totally ignoring the two men at his back.

Seeing this Naruto snapped "Sasuke, you come back here, I'm not done with you yet…!" He was about to go after Sasuke but Kakashi put a hand on his shoulder. Naruto looked up at Kakashi's face, seeing that it was still calm and well… lazy.

"Naruto let him be." He said calmly.

"But Kakashi-sensei-"

"You know Naruto, Sakura wouldn't want people fighting during her birthday. She'd be angry with us."

Naruto nodded, he knew what Kakashi really wanted to say. There was no use in fighting with Sasuke when it came to this matter.

For the whole year Sasuke never mention anything about Sakura. As if she never once had exist in a part in his life. And when the topic about her does come out he goes up and leaves. And he would always say _'what's the use of talking about somebody who's dead. You're just wasting your time.'_ If somebody would ask him that is.

Naruto hated it when he acts like that but more over he doesn't know WHY he acts like that. Was it because of his clan's death? Or was it because he just a cruel heartless bastard that he always gets to be.

Either way he went along with Kakashi.

-

-

-

Sasuke was heading home.

"_It's her birthday today." _His thoughts were drifting. _"Why won't you go to her?"_

That was the question. Why won't he visit her grave? He acted this way before when it comes to his parents, but why is he also acting like this when it came to Sakura? She wasn't a relative or someone **that** close to him. Then why? Why? Why?

"_Enough! Stop it! Before—"_

**Cold**

It feels so cold.

_He_ felt so clod.

And…

Alone—

**Empty**

_He_ felt so empty…

When the others started to talk about her he would immediately leave then give an excuse for his actions if he was ever ask. But this was the real reason. He didn't want to feel the Cold and the empty feeling in his heart and he didn't want the others to know. Him, a cold heartless Uchiha had become this affected by her death, by her sudden disappearance, now _that_ was not normal.

Sasuke couldn't understand it. Why is this happening to him? He didn't feel this kind of feeling when it comes to his parent's death. There was pain when it comes to them; there was emptiness but- never like this. He felt cold before but never like this.

_Sakura…_

He hates those memories about her.

Her memories- they made him feel cold—

He felt so empty—

"I hate this." He said as his hands clench; his eyes were covered by his bangs.

"I hate you Sakura." He said firmly just above a whisper.

He continued walking, trying desperately hard to ignore everything.

-

-

-

When Naruto and Kakashi got to the memorial, they didn't just saw Ino but also Rock Lee, Hinata, Kaiba, Shino, Shikamaru, Choji, Tenten, and shockingly Neji as well. They all paid their respects to Sakura. The memorial was flourished with bouquets of flowers. But it wasn't just Sakura they came to visit; they came to visit her parents as well.

At least, they all thought, Sakura is now happy together with her parents.

A/N: Elow! Yeah yeah yeah, you're asking where the mysterious pink haired girl is. No worries people! She'll come by the next chapter. Promise!

Mmmm… Sasuke hates Sakura I wonder why? What do you think! What's your opinion in this?

And yeah our exam is on a SATURDAY! Thanks to our ever so annoying Principal.

**Inner Sakura4life**: I would like to kill that guy one day; wait till I graduate… he'll see…he-will-see… Mwuahahahahaha!

((SIGH))

PLZZZ REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!


	4. The Spring Flower

Sakura4life: Elow there! Good to see that you're reading my fic. I'm soooo happy right now. I couldn't believe it! I got sooooo many reviews. To all those who reviewed there are only two words I would love to tell to all of you-------

(((((((((((((THAAAAAAAAANNNNNKKK YOOOOOOOOUUUUUU)))))))))))

I've received a lot of complains about Ino being in team 7. I know you guys don't like it! But I have my reasons! You'll see it later chapters. Promise!

Declaimer: I am not creative enough to own the coolest, the most amazing, and the best anime in the world. BUT I WISH I DID!

**Chapter 4: The spring Flower **(you'll find out why I named it that way)

3 days after Sakura's birthday.

Naruto was waiting not so patiently at the entrance of the village along with his team. He was tapping his foot on the ground; arms cross against his chest. His face was screwing up in each passing second.

'_Patience…patience…patience…' _waschanting in his head as hecontinues tapping, a vein popped out of his temple and was twitching quite horribly. He wasn't anywhere good at this 'patience' thing ever since the beginning.

_Tick-_

_Tock-_

_Tick-_

_Tock-_

Another vein appeared-

_Tick-_

_Twitch-_

_Tock-_

_Tick-_

_Twitch-_

_Tock-_

_Final Twitch-_

Naruto finally popped—

"What's keeping them so long! We've been waiting for 3 hours already!" Both his hands curled into fists; waving them madly in the air; two more vines pooped on his temple.

"I know, you're not the only one whose been waiting for them!" Ino was showing the same impatience as Naruto. At least she was just sitting on a bench a few feet from the main gate of Konoha. Although her patience was running short. Just like Naruto, Ino had no patience what so ever. Right now she was doing her best to stay calm. But she was clearly loosing. She closed her eyes tightly as a vine on her own temple popped out and her right eyebrow was twitching uncontrollably. Naruto was still wailing and it was adding to her shortening temper. _'Inhale… Exhale… Inhale… Exhale…' _she was trying to clam herself down, unfortunately it wasn't working.

Kakashi though was leaning comfortably against a tree a few feet away from the two impatient ninjas. Seeing his two students starting to loose their patience…OK, so one of them had already lost it while the other one was about to explode, he tried to calm them down.

"Cant the two of you just wait? They have to travel on foot you know, so it would take time for them to get here." finally making his point to his team he went back to reading his ever so present Icha Icha Paradise. _'Mmmm… oh, that was good.'_ A girlish giggle came out from their sensei and a faint blush could be seen even through his mask.

The two blonde shinobies turned dark-green in disgust in seeing their sensei enjoying his perverted book.

"By the way where's Sasuke?" Kakashi asked suddenly out of the blue. The raven haired boy was no where to be seen. It's not like him to be late or be absent like this, especially on a class B mission assign to them by the Godaime Hokage.

The two snapped out of their disgusted stance-

Naruto faced his sensei. Putting his hands on his hips; he threw his head in the air before saying:

"Who, that Bastard! I have no idea, and I don't care about that moron. He can burn to hell for all I care!" Naruto's words were replied by a smack on the face by Ino.

"Naruto! You don't have the right to call my Sasuke-kun a bastard, a moron or anything else at that matter!"

"Here we go again." Kakashi was already used to this, almost every morning these two fight, if not they would bicker endlessly. Making Sasuke annoyed as hell, maybe this was the reason why he was absent for the mission.

Naruto would say something not so pleasing about Sasuke, and then he would be greatly rewarded by a smack in the face, a kick in the chin and an occasional bloody nose and a black eye, courtesy of Ino.

For a 16-year old chunin who has mastered the Resengan within a short period of time, who had been trained by one of the three legendary Sanins, and who was able to convince Tsunade to be the Fifth Hokage, he was still no match against a girl's over powering will to kick ass for the one she loves. If you can call it love.

Now Kakashi understands why Shikamaru would often say _'Girls, so troublesome.'_

Kakashi sigh and slightly shook his head.

"Are you sure none of you know were Sasuke is today?" He asked again without looking up from his book.

After a few hundred slaps, Ino finally let go of Naruto. The poor blonde boy looks like he got bitten by a thousand bees. Ino faced Kakashi. "I went to his house earlier and he said that he busy with something. He didn't tell me what it was though."

Kakashi just nodded his head in reply. _"Busy huh? Still the same excuse."_

The same excuse that Sasuke used during Sakura's burial. That he was too '_busy_' to attend. But he had his doubts. Sasuke was around during her burial, he was sure of it. He had sense his chackra somewhere near by. Kakashi new he was there and he knew very well why he didn't want to go _too_ near at her burial site. He could still remember how Sasuke's facila expression when he saw Sakura's dead body. He was sure that—

Naruto's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Kakashi-sensei, look somebody's coming!" Naruto said enthusiastically, pointing at the entrance of the gate. That was sure a fast recovery.

Kakashi snap his book shut and put it in his pocket; completely sweeping aside his previous thoughts. This mission should be his only priority as of now. They didn't exactly know who their charge is; they didn't even know what she looked like. There was very little information gathered for the mission. The Godaime didn't even explain the mission clearly enough. All they know was they have to protect a girl from an ex-Juonin and now considered a missing nin. All the other needed information will be received from the Jounin that would be with their charge upon arrival.

They went nearer to the two human shaped shadows. One of the shadows was short and had a petite body, which would be their charge. The second shadow was tall and had muscular form; must be the Jounin. As they went nearer to them they were able to get a better look at the newly arrived guest.

They stopped; they were frozen on the spot. Their eyes widen; their lips were slightly parted looking like they were fishes out of the water.

Ino, Naruto and even Kakashi were shock as if all hell had broken lose.

"Im…impossible." Ino

"Am… I j-just dreaming?" Naruto

"Mmmm…this can't be." Kakashi, looking more serious than ever.

-

-

-

_"Sasuke-kun, are you sure you're alright?"_

_"I'm fine; just go already." _

"_OK"_

After recalling his little 'excuse' to Ino, he was now thinking about there new mission. They were assigned to protect somebody from a different village; the hidden Grass Village. That person was to stay in their village until things would be sorted out in their own. This was in his head while walking to the entrance of the village. He really didn't feel like going on any mission today. They weren't gonna leave the village so what's the point of it? That missing nin will probably wont even be able to pass the boundary of the village.

He made a turn then –

Somebody running bumped into him.

Whoever it was wasn't going to leave without a scratch. How dare he bump into a prodigy just like that and to an Uchiha no less.

"Hey… what the hell? Watch where your go-." It couldn't be. He couldn't believe it.

Looking at the person in front of him.

Her eyes were closed and her poise was a bit tipped by their earlier collision.

Her hair was braided to its tip.

Her face was unmistakable.

The girl that bumped him was about to speak but then-

Strong arms were wrapped around the girl's body.

He had hugged her tight.

_Sasuke_ had hugged her tight.

He didn't let go, as if he did he would loose her again. And to his surprise for once in his life he felt-

**WARM**

**COMPLETE**

"Sakura…." He whispered as he still hugged her. When he finally parted, he was about to speak-

Realization struck.

Her eyes… they were not **her** eyes.

He stepped away from her, staring at the figure in front of him. The girl was staring at him, just staring at him. None of them moved. They stayed at that position for a moment or two. Time seemed to stopped-

"Sasuke-teme!"

Sasuke turned his head to his side and found Naruto calling his name.

Kakashi, Ino and a man that seem to be a ninja from a different village were behind him; they were running and then stopped. "Good, you caught her." His sensei said.

"Her?" Sasuke looked backed at the mysterious girl.

The girl in front of him was about to run away again but Sasuke grabbed her wrist. He was now giving her a 'Who are you _really_?' look. The stern version. His eyes narrowed up at the girl.

Seeing this she tried to struggle out of his grip but to no avail.

"Let go of me." Came her voice.

It made him numb.

_Her voice. _

_Who are you…?_

-

-

-

An hour passed, and things were handled up. All of them were now sitting on a wooden chair in a tea house.

Kakashi, Ino, Naruto and Sasuke were in front of the two guests seating in a square table in the tea house. Naruto, Ino Kakashi were seating alongside each other. The Jounin and the girl were seating alongside as well.

"Sorry for the way we acted at you earlier." Naruto said to the girl that was drinking her tea.

"Um... It's ok." She said as she softly drank her tea.

"Kakashi-sensei can I ask exactly what happened earlier." Sasuke ask monotonously as if he was not that interested. He was at the farthest side of the tea house. He didn't want to be near to anybody.

"Huh?" Oh… you see Sasuke. Naruto and Ino kind of freaked her out earlier." Kakashi said in a lazy yet amused voice.

Now he was recalling what happened earlier. "Earlier this morning while we were waiting at the front gate-

_Flashback:_

_"Im… Impossible." Ino_

_"Am I j-just dreaming?" Naruto_

_"Mmmm…this can't be." Kakashi looking more serious than ever. But still remained calm. _

_On the other hand Naruto and Ino looked like they'd seen a ghost. And for them they really did._

_This-girl-in-front-of-them-looked-exactly-like-their-friend. _

_In front of them stood a girl about their age wearing a yellow long-sleeved loose jacket and brown baggy pants that reach her heels and black ninja sandals._

_Her long PINK hair was braided. _

_Naruto flew 2-feet from his position and suddenly engaged a tight bear hug with the unsuspecting female visitor._

"_Sakura-chan! You're ALIVE! WE THOUGHT WE LOST YOU FOREVER!" Naruto screamed at the top of his lungs. _

_Ino was screaming: "OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD, SAKURAAAA!" over and over again while her hands were having frantically in the air._

_The two were in uncontrollable frenzy. _

_Naruto— hugging and screaming._

_Ino— screaming and waving her hands high in the air._

_Girl being hugged and screamed at— eyes wide, shock expression, turning blue from lack of air, body stiff as a manikin's._

_Kakashi and the other Jounin that was with the girl stood by each other. They stared at the scene and sweat dropped._

_But it wasn't long before the girl Naruto was hugging freaked out and ran away. Judging by her facial expression before she dashed faster than a fox during hunting season the girl was obviously horrified. _

_End of Flashback: _

"-and so it was." Kakashi ended. Ino blushed and Naruto let out a nervous laugh while scratching the back of his head. They were ashamed of what they did.

'_Then if that's the case then that baka hugged her even before I did'_ Sasuke shook that thought out of his head and thought of it no more. _'She looks exactly like Sakura.'_

The Jounin she was with spoke. "Well now that we settled things down why don't we introduced ourselves." He said without any hesitation in his voice. "My name is Yamamura Takara. I'm pleased to meet you all." The dark-brown haired man slightly bowed from his seat, showing his respect to the other shinobies in front of him.

"Same here, I'm Hatake Kakashi and this is my team." Signaling his team to introduce themselves, each one stood and told their name except for a dark haired Uchiha who was in no mood for any introductory speech.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, It's nice to meet you sir." Naruo said politely as he could. 4 years of experience had thought him how to be polite and to give respect to other people. And it's all thanks to Tsunade. She had thought him well in the art of being a well-mannered person. Hell! If he didn't give respect to people from other villages that woman would definitely sent him flying to the moon!

"My name is Yamanaka Ino, I'm glad that I will be able to help you Takara-san." Ino bowed to Takara and went back to her seat. She slightly flinched when she saw Takara winked at her. '_Great another pervert to deal with.'_

They were still waiting for the dark haired teen to introduce himself but seconds tick and not a word came out of Sasuke's mouth.

"Ehem." Kakashi gave a warning look at the raven haired boy after a few seconds of waiting in silence. Understanding his sensei's look or glare to be precise, Sasuke gave off an annoyed sigh before introducing himself.

"Uchiha Sasuke." He said without even standing up. His face was impassive as always.

Kakashi gave off a sigh of his own but not out of annoyance. Will the boy ever change? Always impassive and emotionless. Some things never change. Forget about the boy, on to the mission.

This girl looked surprisingly like his old student. He couldn't blame Naruto and Ino for their reaction at seeing the girl. The resemblance was amazing. "Would it be ok if you would tell us what your name is, miss?" Asking the girl in front of him.

Startled, the girl slightly flinch her seat "Huh…? Umm…" She fidgeted with her tea which kind of reminded Naruto of Hinata.

"Its ok, go ahead." Takara gave a reassuring hand on her shoulder. The girl nodded at his encouragement before facing the rest of team 7. All eyes were on her. Finally they will be able to know just who is this mysterious girl.

"Umm…" She inhaled deeply before continuing. "My name is Akina, Kitano Akina."

A/N: **Akina **- **spring flower**

**Kita**- **north**

**-no**- is added to connect

**Takara**- **treasure, precious object**

**Yama – mountain**

**Mura – village**

Now you know why I named the chapter title like that. I think the name suits her. Don't you think?

Our exams are over! Hurraaaaayyy! Oh! By the way our principle

Wait till what comes next!

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